


Hug It Out

by offensiveagentpie



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Arguments, Hugging, M/M, inspired by a tumblr post, science nerds being a bit obtuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-03-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 04:16:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3474122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/offensiveagentpie/pseuds/offensiveagentpie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They stare at each other.  Bodies still taught with anger, neither of them moving.<br/>“What do you propose we do?” Hermann manages to keep the sneer off his face, but it creeps into his voice.<br/>“Fuck if I know,” Newt throws his arms out.  “Want to hug it out?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hug It Out

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of [this tumblr post](http://newmannheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/111864753049/newt-and-hermann-instituting-a-never-go-to-bed)

Newt storms from the lab. It’s immature, he knows, and he’ll probably catch hell for it, but it’s the end of the day and he’s reached the point of frustration where he needs to get away from the source. He mumbles angrily to himself the whole way to his room, keeping up his now one-sided argument against his lab partner. It continues while he showers, changes, brushes his teeth, and crawls into bed.

How that cantankerous bastard is the same person who Newt used to correspond with, he’ll never know. It still astounds him, honestly. Apparently letter-writing Hermann was a completely different beast than actual Hermann. Newt never thought that the brilliant mind behind those letters, with their daring theories and wry humor, could be such an _asshole_. 

He aggressively punches his pillow, flopping around in the bed much harder than necessary in an effort to relax and sleep it off. But he can’t. His body is still thrumming with the prickling heat from their particularly bad argument. Hell, he’s so irritated, he can’t even remember the beginning of it. It had taken so many twists and turns as they threw out verbal jabs and blows, that the original cause had escaped him. But whatever, it didn’t matter. He’d just go back to the lab tomorrow and they’d fall into cold silence like they always do after a particularly nasty tiff. It’d be back to normal in a few days, once again just biding time until they got into it once more.

Newt huffs and rolls over violently on the mattress. 

He doesn’t sleep well at all.

\--

The next morning he’s completely exhausted. The whole night was filled with tossing and turning. It didn’t feel like he’d slept for more than a few minutes at a time, if truly at all. Dragging his feet, he finally arrives at the lab with coffee in hand. He scans around the room, eyes narrowing as he looks for Hermann, ready to snap at him if the man says so much as a word to him regarding yesterday.

But he doesn’t. Hermann is sitting slumped at his desk, eyes half lidded with dark circles prominent beneath them.

Their gazes meet for a brief moment and a flash of understanding passes between them. Newt sneers and heads over to his specimens, and Hermann rolls his eyes.

They don’t speak at all for the entire day.

 

\--

 

Awhile later, it happens again. They yell, they hurl insults, and Hermann leaves the lab this time. Newt barely restrains himself from hurling a piece of lung at him as he stomps out of the double doors. He stays to work, cranking his music past all decent and acceptable levels to calm down the pulsing static of irritation in his head.

And even though a few hours pass, he finds himself unable to sleep once again. This isn’t usually a problem. Newt has gotten sleep even after particularly bad and incredibly stressful kaiju attacks…but there’s something about being upset at Hermann that just eats away at him; gnawing at his mind until his body just gives in to a fitful, unhelpful mockery of rest. It’s like this, he realizes, after every one of their more heated disagreements.

He thinks on that for a bit as he rolls over and fluffs his pillow. It doesn’t help.

 

\--

 

The next morning, he finds Hermann leaning against his desk and staring blearily over at his chalkboards. His shoulders are slumped and he looks every bit as tired and defeated as Newt feels.

“Hey,” Newt says, voice low and worn out.

Hermann sighs. “Newton, please let’s not get into anything today, I barely slept as it is. Another argument would surely ruin tonight as well.”

For a moment, Newt bristles. Immediately on the defense over Hermann automatically assuming he was about to argue…but then he realizes where that would get him and he focuses on what Hermann said instead.

“You too, huh?”

Hermann turns to look at him and Newt sees that the circles have returned under his eyes. “What?”

“You uh, you don’t sleep well when we…when we argue?” It’s a simple enough statement, but something in Newt’s stomach squirms when he brings it up.

“I barely sleep at all,” Hermann says quietly, eyes flicking up to Newt before quickly looking at the floor. “Something about it just...I’m not sure. I usually just feel dreadful about it overall. Despite whatever it was we were fighting about.”

Newt’s gut gets that feeling again. “Same here. It really bites, to be honest.”

A moment of silence passes between them. It’s got a strange quality to it. Tense, but at the same time, it feels as though something is slowly and laboriously changing.  
“So, how about a truce from now on?” Newt asks, voice tentative as he rubs his forearm awkwardly.

Hermann looks at him a bit odd, and his mouth quirks ever so slightly. “I hardly think that we’d ever be able to keep it up. We both know some of our better discoveries have come from our,” he pauses, clearly searching for the right word, “…banter.”

Newt huffs out a bit of a laugh. “Well, yeah…but that’s just how we operate, man. I’m talking the big ones. No more all out war. Or at least, let’s not go to bed angry over the big stuff.”

A bit of color rises to Hermann’s cheeks. Newt chews his lip, wondering if he’s gone and done something really stupid, but after a moment, Hermann nods.

“Well, why not?” he eventually says, looking at Newt. And if Newt were to hazard a guess, he looked almost hopeful.

 

\--

 

Their discussion allowed for almost two and a half weeks of relative peace before things finally got tense enough to boil over.

They’re standing on either side of the tape line, all but screaming at one another before there’s a lull in their argument. The next few moments are filled with heavy breathing, but Hermann eventually clenches his jaw and looks at Newt in frustrated expectation.

“Well, are we going to resolve this or not? I’ll be damned if I’m losing sleep over this again.”

Newt rolls his eyes. Leave it up to Hermann to sound so damn grumpy over making peace.

“Yeah,” he bites back.

They stare at each other. Bodies still taught with anger, neither of them moving.

“What do you propose we do?” Hermann manages to keep the sneer off his face, but it creeps into his voice.

“Fuck if I know,” Newt throws his arms out. “Want to hug it out?”

Hermann scoffs and glares. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Shut up,” Newt glares back.

The glare-off lasts a few more moments before Hermann sighs in defeat. Newt takes it as a non-verbal cue and steps over the line, tugging Hermann close to him with more force than is strictly necessary.

Hermann grunts out a breath and grabs back just as hard. It’s the most violent hug Newt has ever been a part of. And he’s been bodily picked up during one from Sasha Kaidanovsky…so that’s really saying something.

By the time Newt is positive he’s going to have bony finger marks against the back of his shoulder, things slowly, by increments, start to relax. Their breathing calms and evens out, and the tight embrace starts to loosen until it feels almost warm…almost comforting.

Almost in unison, they exhale. Tension seems to flow from them, leaving their bodies heavy and tired in its wake. Newt squeezes just a little bit tighter, and he feels a pleasant shiver run down his spine as Hermann practically nuzzles his face into his neck.

And just like that things become awkward. They pull apart, eyes meeting quickly and awkwardly as they try to look everywhere but at each other.

They clear their throats and say: “So…” and “Well…” over each other.

They nod in agreement as though the stuttered words were enough of a conclusion and head back to their respective sides of the lab. When it comes time to leave, Newt makes sure to give Hermann enough headway so that they don’t end up walking together towards their quarters. 

Feelings, completely unlike those he usually gets from their arguments, are positively storming inside of him. He has no idea what to make of any of it, to be honest. But despite all of that…

He ends up getting an amazing night’s sleep.

 

\--

 

They do that from then on. It works almost too well… well enough that their more intense arguments become almost nonexistent. So, Newt has found himself picking even the slightest fights in an excuse to cross over to Hermann’s side of the lab and wrap him up in his arms.

Because, there’s really no use in hiding it, Newt likes it. Newt likes it a whole hell of a lot. It gives him a bit of a spring in his step, he finds himself whistling a lot, and he sleeps great. A hug from Hermann basically makes his whole day.

One afternoon as they’re working, Hermann off handedly mentions the smell of Newt’s latest acquisition.

“Well, it’s not as foul as your moth-ball smelling sweaters,” Newt says playfully.

“Which aren’t as bad as your tight excuse for trousers,” Hermann tosses back.

“Your grandpa shoes are worse.”

“Oh, yes, the grandfather argument. I’m wounded,” Hermann says sarcastically, placing a hand over his heart.

“Really?”

“Yes, terribly.”

“Well then, we gotta hug it out,” Newt says, excitement evident in his voice. He strips off his rubber gloves and saunters over to Hermann’s side of the lab and throws his arms wide in an inviting gesture.

Hermann glances down at him from the third rung of the ladder. “I would hardly call that an argument, Newton.”

Newt’s shoulder slump slightly, but he brightens as Hermann climbs down the ladder anyway. “I dunno, man. I really think I might lose sleep thinking about what you said about my tight pants,” he says as Hermann pulls him into a hug.

The second the words leave his mouth, however, he fully realizes how they could be perceived. Hermann starts to pull back, but already Newt is shoving his face against the other’s chest to hide the fact that it’s now flaming red. And that just makes it all worse.

“Oh god, that’s not what I meant…”

Hermann huffs in exasperation and pulls Newt away from him, looking as flustered as Newt feels. “Yes, well…”

There’s pause as Hermann glances everywhere but Newt. “I wouldn’t mind. I mean, you thinking of me like that, or thinking that I think of your pants like that or…dammit,” he bites out. “What I should say is, I know that you’ve been picking stupid arguments just to hug me and it’s preposterous when really, I wouldn’t mind if we did this arguments or not. And with that statement, I suppose I should also say that I wouldn’t mind everything else that would also come with being in that sort of relat--...well, you know.”

Newt stares at him. And is suddenly all too aware that they are having this conversation in a pseudo hug that makes them look like two nervous teenagers at a dance, who are making sure to leave room for Jesus…

So really he can’t be faulted that he starts to laugh.

Hermann looks absolutely affronted when he does and he begins to pull away, but Newt just holds him tight. “No, god, no Hermann…what you said is fine, it’s just this thought I had. But really, did you seriously just kind of sort of ask me out? Or something? Whatever that was?”

“Perhaps,” Hermann says haughtily looking down his nose. But Newt can see the uncertainty in his eyes through the bluster.

Newt pulls him into a full bodied bear hug and is overjoyed when Hermann returns it. “Well in that case, tell me more about what you think of my tight pants,” he says with a smirk.

The punch he gets on the arm is totally worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Ack, this felt like I lost their voices...I dunno. Not beta'd so all mistakes are my own.
> 
> I do hope you enjoyed it though! Who doesn't need more nerds hugging in their life?


End file.
